The intergenerational transmission of health in early childhood—Evidence from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study

Katja Coneus and Katharina Spiess ()

Economics & Human Biology, 2012, vol. 10, issue 1, 89-97

Abstract: Children's physical health problems have clear and lasting impacts on a variety of later life outcomes, as a growing body of research has shown. Furthermore, problems such as obesity, motor impairment, and chronic diseases entail high social costs, particularly when childhood health problems carry over into adulthood. This study examines intergenerational relationships between parent and child health based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), in particular the recently introduced Mother and Child Questionnaires. Using various health measures, including anthropometric measures, information on health disorders, and “self-rated” health measures, we find significant relationships between parental and child health during the first three years of life. Overall, our results suggest that when controlling for parental income, education, and family composition, parents with poor health are more likely to have children with poor health. However, there are significant differences between health measures and age groups. For some health measures, our results suggest an increasing health gradient by age.

Keywords: Intergenerational transmission; Child health; Parental health; Early childhood (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 I12 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (42)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:10:y:2012:i:1:p:89-97

DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2011.03.002

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